August 2, 2007

To Dream The Impossible Dream

The Senate takes up ethics reform on the floor this morning, and given the overwhelming vote in the House yesterday, it seems certain to pass. The roll-call vote will take place this afternoon:

The Senate debated Thursday whether to make lawmakers disclose more about their efforts to fund pet projects and raise money from lobbyists, a move that reform groups say is overdue.

Senate leaders said they hoped to win a showdown vote later in the day to end debate and ready the bill for final passage. A two-thirds majority is needed to end debate because the bill would change Senate rules, but a simple majority would suffice on final passage.

The measure "is the most sweeping reform bill since Watergate," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said as the debate began Thursday morning.

That may be damning with faint praise. It had real teeth in its earlier version, especially on earmarks, but the conference process apparently did a lot of extraction on the upper and lower jaws. At Heading Right, I note that three Republicans plan on conducting a Quixotic attempt to derail the bill, and analyze what their chances are for success.

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Comments (7)

Posted by vet66 | August 2, 2007 11:39 AM

Transparency in Government"

Dare to dream!

Better be transparency in the Maliki government though, by GAWD!

"As long as the sky is blue, the grass is green, and the buffalo roam under the eternal banner of Ole Glory..." blah blah blah!

I wonder what they find during the audit of Alaska's Ted Stevens?

Posted by Al in St. Lou | August 2, 2007 12:02 PM

The Republican senators have to fight this. The teeth have been pulled in the conference committee. This bill is worse than useless now. I wish I could believe that Bush would have the guts to veto it.

Posted by Al in St. Lou | August 2, 2007 12:11 PM

The Republican senators have to fight this. The teeth have been pulled in the conference committee. This bill is worse than useless now. I wish I could believe that Bush would have the guts to veto it.

Posted by Angry Dumbo | August 2, 2007 12:35 PM

If as Senator Colburn said our legislators had "reproductive organs" larger than bbs, how hard would it be to vote against this faux reform and stand up for your constituents to hold out for the real reform that was in the earlier bill.

It takes guts to do what has to be done, and a true inner weakness to accept things as out of your control.

We need strength, more than ever in Congress. If Republicans are swept out in 08, it is because they stand for nothing.

Best of luck on 08, boys.

Posted by Bachbone | August 2, 2007 1:21 PM

Tocqueville was prescient. He didn't know they'd be called "earmarks," but he knew politicians would someday "give" voters things in order to get re-elected. Both sides of the aisle use them, and they'll never be eliminated.

Posted by CFurg | August 2, 2007 2:13 PM

Di Fi making ANY comment on this? Does this cover granting money to your husband's company?

Posted by Theresa, MSgt (ret), USAF | August 2, 2007 3:25 PM

CFurg you beat me to the punch. I tuned into CSPAN to see DiFi, queen of the ethically challenged, talking about ethics reform. IF a thief like feinstein can, with a straight face, stand up on the Senate floor and wax poetically on how this bill of bills if going to "clean up" Congress, the world has turned on its axis. Foxes guarding the hen house is all that came to mind. This bill is the proverbial sunshine being blown up the tax payers collective behind.

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